First Amendment 'Goes Too Far' on Freedom, Say Record Surge Of Americans
Survey finds few adults aware of freedom of religion, yet record number would deny it to fringe groups.
Can you name the five freedoms guaranteed to American citizens by the First Amendment?
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans are able to name the freedom of speech. Yet fewer than 1 in 4 are able to name the freedom of religion, according to new research from the First Amendment Center. (Meanwhile, more than one-third of Americans are unable to name any of the five.)
The center's 2013 State of the First Amendment survey reveals that only 10 percent of Americans identify freedom of religion as the most important freedom that Americans enjoy (47% choose freedom of speech instead). Women were twice as likely as men to name freedom of religion as the most important freedom (13% vs. 6%).
But even though most people don't know what freedoms they have under the Constitution, that didn't stop more than 1 in 3 Americans from saying the First Amendment goes too far in the freedoms it promises. That's nearly triple the 13 percent of people who said the same last year.
"The increase is the largest one-year rise in the survey's history," according to Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center, "and more than double the point increase seen in the wake of 9/11—when those fearing too much freedom went from 39 percent to the all-time high of 49 percent." (The center cites the Boston Marathon bombing as a likely influence.)
Most likely to believe the First Amendment goes too far are Americans under 30 years old, African-Americans, and Latinos.
The First Amendment Center also reports that nearly 1 in 3 Americans disagree that "freedom to worship as one chooses applies to all religious groups regardless of how extreme or on-the-fringe their views," which is "the highest percentage of Americans who have said the freedom to worship does not apply to extreme and fringe groups since the question was first asked in 1997." -Christianity Today
Survey finds few adults aware of freedom of religion, yet record number would deny it to fringe groups.
Can you name the five freedoms guaranteed to American citizens by the First Amendment?
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans are able to name the freedom of speech. Yet fewer than 1 in 4 are able to name the freedom of religion, according to new research from the First Amendment Center. (Meanwhile, more than one-third of Americans are unable to name any of the five.)
The center's 2013 State of the First Amendment survey reveals that only 10 percent of Americans identify freedom of religion as the most important freedom that Americans enjoy (47% choose freedom of speech instead). Women were twice as likely as men to name freedom of religion as the most important freedom (13% vs. 6%).
But even though most people don't know what freedoms they have under the Constitution, that didn't stop more than 1 in 3 Americans from saying the First Amendment goes too far in the freedoms it promises. That's nearly triple the 13 percent of people who said the same last year.
"The increase is the largest one-year rise in the survey's history," according to Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center, "and more than double the point increase seen in the wake of 9/11—when those fearing too much freedom went from 39 percent to the all-time high of 49 percent." (The center cites the Boston Marathon bombing as a likely influence.)
Most likely to believe the First Amendment goes too far are Americans under 30 years old, African-Americans, and Latinos.
The First Amendment Center also reports that nearly 1 in 3 Americans disagree that "freedom to worship as one chooses applies to all religious groups regardless of how extreme or on-the-fringe their views," which is "the highest percentage of Americans who have said the freedom to worship does not apply to extreme and fringe groups since the question was first asked in 1997." -Christianity Today
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Where Sexual Liberalism Is Welcome, Bible Believers Are Not
Conservatives do not have high hopes for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which has been leaning liberal for decades and is now officially leaning further to the left.
Meeting in Orlando July 13-17, delegates at the General Assembly passed a significant resolution that Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), tells OneNewsNow opens the denomination's doors to people of all sexual orientations or gender identities.
"Implied in that resolution that that should include the ordained clergy," he notes. "So this is perhaps the first or one of the first specific affirmations by this particular denomination of so-called sexual orientation and sexual or gender self-identity."
The denomination's leadership has been on that trajectory for a long time, and it has had a damaging impact. Once counting about two million members in the 1960s, the Disciples of Christ now has about 639,000, making it perhaps the fastest declining denomination in the nation.
"That's always the irony for the liberal church -- that they embrace sexual liberalism with the idea that that will make them more welcoming and throw open the doors, but, of course, the consequence is always just the opposite," Tooley observes.
People either leave the church entirely, or find a church where the Bible is taught and still held sacred.
The resolution passed by the church's governing body lists sexual orientation and gender identity alongside race, age and other categories to which the denomination is "striving to become a people of grace and welcome.
Doug Harvey, executive director of Disciples Heritage Fellowship, a non-denominational ministry mostly comprised of former Disciples of Christ churches or congregations still officially connected with the denomination, agrees that the liberal view of sexuality and transgenderism is difficult for many church members to embrace.
"A lot of the older folks in the Disciples of Christ denomination remember what it once was and simply don't have a category in their brains to put a church that would actually ordain ultimately gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," Harvey states. "So even when it's there on paper, it just kind of goes over the top of their head; they just can't comprehend it. And I say, 'God bless their innocence,' but that's not the world we live in."
Once a renewal group within the Disciples of Christ, Harvey says Disciples Heritage Fellowship lost hope years ago of facilitating change that embraced an evangelical worldview. He suspects this recent affirmation will cause more to lose hope, too.
"Those churches will go through a painful process of studying their history and their own faith and then make a decision," he predicts. "Some will leave, some will choose to stay, but those that choose to stay often lose their best members -- the solid Bible-believing young adults." -One News Now
Conservatives do not have high hopes for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which has been leaning liberal for decades and is now officially leaning further to the left.
Meeting in Orlando July 13-17, delegates at the General Assembly passed a significant resolution that Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), tells OneNewsNow opens the denomination's doors to people of all sexual orientations or gender identities.
"Implied in that resolution that that should include the ordained clergy," he notes. "So this is perhaps the first or one of the first specific affirmations by this particular denomination of so-called sexual orientation and sexual or gender self-identity."
The denomination's leadership has been on that trajectory for a long time, and it has had a damaging impact. Once counting about two million members in the 1960s, the Disciples of Christ now has about 639,000, making it perhaps the fastest declining denomination in the nation.
"That's always the irony for the liberal church -- that they embrace sexual liberalism with the idea that that will make them more welcoming and throw open the doors, but, of course, the consequence is always just the opposite," Tooley observes.
People either leave the church entirely, or find a church where the Bible is taught and still held sacred.
The resolution passed by the church's governing body lists sexual orientation and gender identity alongside race, age and other categories to which the denomination is "striving to become a people of grace and welcome.
Doug Harvey, executive director of Disciples Heritage Fellowship, a non-denominational ministry mostly comprised of former Disciples of Christ churches or congregations still officially connected with the denomination, agrees that the liberal view of sexuality and transgenderism is difficult for many church members to embrace.
"A lot of the older folks in the Disciples of Christ denomination remember what it once was and simply don't have a category in their brains to put a church that would actually ordain ultimately gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," Harvey states. "So even when it's there on paper, it just kind of goes over the top of their head; they just can't comprehend it. And I say, 'God bless their innocence,' but that's not the world we live in."
Once a renewal group within the Disciples of Christ, Harvey says Disciples Heritage Fellowship lost hope years ago of facilitating change that embraced an evangelical worldview. He suspects this recent affirmation will cause more to lose hope, too.
"Those churches will go through a painful process of studying their history and their own faith and then make a decision," he predicts. "Some will leave, some will choose to stay, but those that choose to stay often lose their best members -- the solid Bible-believing young adults." -One News Now
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